Entertainment

Explorable Google Maps Coming to the Wii U

Nintendo announced Wednesday morning that Google Maps would be coming to the Wii U next year as an app.

The Google Maps app on the Wii U would allow users to explore the world through street view on the GamePad, the Wii U's specialized controller with a 6-inch touch screen. In the Japanese Nintendo Director presentation Wednesday morning, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata demonstrated by visiting Nintendo's Japanese and American headquarters on Google Maps.

Google Apps will come to the Wii U in Japan in January, according to Iwata.

The Wii U launches in Japan on Sunday, three weeks after its U.S. release. Iwata's full Nintendo Direct Presentation, embedded below, showed off the third-party apps coming to the Wii U, including Panorama View.

Febuted at E3 this year, the Panorama View app uses a rotating camera to let players explore a 360-degree view of action surrounding them. In his demonstration, Iwata visited a trolley in London and a castle in Kyoto, Japan.

Nintendo will be making a full English presentation today at noon ET for American players. It is expected to update players on Nintendo TVii, Nintendo's live television and video-on-demand hub coming to the console sometime in December. The company may also announce release dates for other games expected to come out during the Wii U's "launch window" from now until March. The Japanese presentation showed footage from the first-party title Pikmin 3.

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